The present invention relates to golf clubs, and more particularly to a method for fabricating a metal club head having an integrally cast sole plate.
It is a benefit to provide a golf club "wood" head having a low center of gravity. This is particularly desirable for fairway woods, to ensure that the player hits "under" the ball for increased loft. Some natural wood clubs having a persimmon, maple, laminated wood or other wood body have been fabricated with a brass sole plate. The brass has a significantly higher specific weight density than persimmon wood, and so the center of gravity of the club head is lowered.
Efforts to lower the center of gravity of club heads will take into account restrictions on maximum weight of the club head to stay within standard swing weight ranges. This of course prevent the simple expedient of adding additional material to the sole plate to lower the center of gravity, since the weight limit would typically be exceeded.
The preferred material of "wood" clubs now in the world's golf market is a metal, typically fabricated in the form of a hollow metal club head. A typical material from which the head shell is fabricated is stainless steel. Investment casting techniques are in use to fabricate the hollow club heads. A typical technique involves the casting of the head body in two parts, and then welding the two parts together to form the complete head. This is expensive, time consuming, and requires additional finishing steps to smooth the weld bead.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,408 describes another process for casting a golf club head, wherein the head is cast as a single piece, and weights are later added in the sole portion. The addition of weights is an added process step.